THE terminal operating arm of Chinese shipping company Cosco saw its container throughput increase 12.4 percent in October compared to the same month last year.

Figures released by the terminal operator shows that Cosco Ports handled 7.4 million TEU last month, up from 6.6 million TEU in October 2016, American Shipper reported.

Of the 37 terminals across the globe listed in the company's statistics, 28 saw increases in Cosco container traffic from October 2016 to last month, with the individual jumps ranging from a miniscule 0.1 per cent at Dalian Dagang Container Terminal in northern China - where the number of units moved was flat at 2,400 TEU - to 124 per cent at Kumport Liman Hizmetleri ve Lojistik Sanayi ve Ticaret AS in Istanbul, where the throughput jumped from about 53,000 TEU in October 2016 to nearly 119,000 last month.

In the first ten months of the year, Cosco Ports handled a total of 72.3 million TEU, which is a 13.4 per cent jump from the 63.7 million TEU moved during the same period last year.

The biggest year-to-date increase in traffic came at Busan Port Terminal in South Korea, where traffic jumped from 1.5 million TEU to 2.9 million TEU, an 84.7 per cent increase. The biggest year-to-date drop in traffic came at Yingkou New Century Container Terminal in China, where recorded container traffic dropped 19.5 per cent to 1.26 million TEU.